Court tosses de Blasio’s lawsuit against oil companies

A federal judge on Thursday threw out New York City’s lawsuit against five of the world’s largest oil companies, dealing another setback to liberal jurisdictions seeking to hold the petroleum industry financially responsible for global warming.

U.S. District Court Judge John Keenan in New York dismissed the complaint against ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, and ConocoPhillips seeking billions to shore up infrastructure from rising sea tides and other calamities attributed by city officials to climate change.

The judge ruled that the courtroom was not the appropriate venue for the claim.

“Climate change is a fact of life, as is not contested by defendants,” Judge Keenan wrote in a 23-page opinion. “But the serious problems caused thereby are not for the judiciary to ameliorate. Global warming and solutions thereto must be addressed by the two other branches of government.”

His comments echoed those of U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup, who threw out last month similar public-nuisance claims filed by San Francisco and Oakland, concluding that the issue was best addressed by the executive and legislative branches as well as the diplomatic community.

“Those dangers are worldwide. Their causes are worldwide. The benefits of fossil fuels are worldwide,” Judge Alsup said in his ruling. “The problem deserves a solution on a more vast scale than can be supplied by a district judge or jury in a public nuisance case.”

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Seth Stein, a spokesman for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, said the city would appeal.

“The Mayor believes big polluters must be held accountable for their contributions to climate change and the damage it will cause New York City. We intend to appeal this decision and to keep fighting for New Yorkers who will bear the brunt of climate change,” Mr. Stein said.

Chevron attorney Theodore J. Boutrous of the law firm Gibson Dunn said that Judge Keenan “got it exactly right.”

“Trying to resolve a complex, global issue like climate change through litigation is ‘illogical,’ and would intrude on the powers of Congress and the executive branch to address these issues as part of the democratic process,” Mr. Boutrous said in a statement to Courthouse News. “The court relied on bedrock Supreme Court precedent to reject these baseless claims.”

Jay Timmons, National Association of Manufacturers president and CEO, said his group has argued since the beginning that “the courtroom was not the proper venue to address this global challenge.”

“Judge Keenan made that clear in his decision today,” said Mr. Timmons in a statement. “Now that San Francisco, Oakland and New York City have had their cases dismissed, the other municipalities should withdraw their complaints to save taxpayer resources and focus on meaningful solutions.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled the lawsuit in January, claiming that the fossil-fuel industry “knowingly misled the public” about the dangers and risks of climate change in order to “protect their profits.”

“As climate change continues to worsen, it’s up to the fossil fuel companies whose greed put us in this position to shoulder the cost of making New York safer and more resilient,” said Mr. de Blasio, who also announced that the city would divest its fossil-fuel holdings from its $189 billion pension funds.

New York City’s courtroom defeat came as a bad sign for the dozen liberal cities and counties in California, Colorado and Washington that have filed similar claims, as well as Rhode Island, which became the first state to pursue the legal strategy with a lawsuit filed July 2.

The state lawsuit, unveiled by Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo and other top Democrats, targeted 21 oil-and-gas companies.

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“Climate change is a fact of life, as is not contested by defendants,” Judge Keenan wrote in a 23-page opinion. “But the serious problems caused thereby are not for the judiciary to ameliorate. Global warming and solutions thereto must be addressed by the two other branches of government.”

Global warming? What global warming? I thought the name was changed to “climate change” so the left could have a general name for any change in average daily temperature. July is over half over and we have had one “heat wave” here where I live in the North East, and the temperature never got above 92 degrees F. So, de blasio, where is your global warming/climate change?

Some should sue these states, counties, & cities. They KNOWING run a fleet of vehicles that they ADMIT pollute and cause global warming.

The oil & gas companies should immediately offer to STOP SELLING fuel, gas, and electrical power derived from fossil-fuels; or, to add an “environmental tax” onto all their products used by government agencies…for the sake of the CHILDREN and the PLANET!!! Then we can clearly see if their heart is supporting their mouth or their wallet.

I say the largest contributor to global warming (if in fact it is caused by humans rather than mostly a natural often-occurring event) is due to the fact of all the hot air emitted by the likes of de Blasio, governor Cuomo, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters and others of their ilk. On another note I read that de Blasio recently illegally crossed into Mexico and then back into the USA. I wish Mexico would ask for him to be extradited to Mexico and that the USA would immediately comply with that request. Comments??

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